but i don't see why president obama, a democrat wants to send the message that even he thinks it takes a republican to run the defense department two times out of three. >> in terms of michelle flournoy's role in the national security world, her job as undersecretary at the defense department was itself historically higher level of achievement for someone in the defense world. when she was there and when she was there as such a highly regarded person as a potential next secretary of defense, did it make a difference in the pentagon? did it make a difference in that setting to have a woman at that high level? >> right. i think it absolutely did in several different ways. number one, she was just a real inspiration, i think, for a lot of younger women, and really encouraged them to go into jobs that were perceived as being in male dominated realms. second, she really brought in a terrific crew of women into leadership positions in the pentagon, dramatically increase women in leadership positions. and i think people tend -- when you think about your virtual rolodex you tend to think of pe